Family Dynamics
by MoonStarDutchess
Summary: Roy and Riza's kids question them about why they only have two grandparents and learn to appreciate the parents and love they have.
1. Four or Two? That is the Question!

**Family Dynamics  
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**Author: MoonStarDutchess**

**Part 1: Four or Two? That is the Question **

**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to Fullmetal Alchemist and gain no profit from this fanfiction but I do own my plot and OC's if any. Any resemblance of the OC's to anyone, living or dead, is purely coincidental.  
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**Note: The kids' incorrect grammar is intentional. **

**IMPORTANT NOTE: Recently I was notified that in Character Guidebook 3 released recently in Japan it's revealed Chris Mustang is actually the younger sister to Roy's biological father, making her his aunt. According to this guide, she took Roy in after the death of both his parents, when Roy was still very young. This story was written prior to my finding out this information but it won't be changed in this fic. **

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**Four or Two? That is the Question! **

The woman working at the front desk of Central City Headquarters smiled brightly as General and the Chief Representative to Amestris, Roy Mustang, walked through the double doors. He was flanked on each side by two much larger men, obviously bodyguards. Roy excused the two guards now that he was inside the building, and they went on their way to their proper locations.

"Welcome back to Central Headquarters, General Mustang," the woman said, her eyes obviously checking out far more than his rank bars on his uniform.

"You are new here?" he asked, noticing the familiar way the receptionist was looking at him. Those lustful looks were all the same and he could pinpoint them instantly. While he used to welcome them, now they were just annoying.

"Yes," she said, "I started yesterday. I was told earlier this morning that you would be arriving today. I wanted to be the one at the desk to greet you on your return."

Roy resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "I see. What's your name?"

She smiled widely, clearly excited that he would take the time to ask her name. "Eve Benedict."

"Miss Benedict, if a person holds a title of officer and representative, president, and so on, and you are a civilian, you should address them with their non military title."

"Oh, I see! So I should call you Mister Representative or Representative Mustang."

"Yes, exactly," he said.

"Thank you, Sir. I was not notified of that fact."

"Now you know. Keep up the good work Miss Benedict." Without another word, he walked past the desk and over to the elevator, which was conveniently opening at the exact time of his approach. He waited for the people to get off of it, each officer saluting him as they walked by. When the elevator was void of people, Roy walked inside and pressed the button, the doors shutting and blocking the receptionist from view. He was incredibly relieved to be away from the woman and vaguely hoped she would soon be transferred to the secretarial office. He didn't want to have to see her everyday when he came in via the lobby entrance.

Eve huffed and placed her hands on her hips, "Well he's not very friendly!" She wrinkled her nose and glared at the elevator as if she could pass her feelings through to him. When she heard a laugh behind her, she turned to see four other women, also receptionists, chuckling at her.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Dear, you have a better chance doing a successful human transmutation than getting Roy Mustang's attention. Especially flirtatious attention," said the brunette of the group.

"Well I heard he was very flirty so I figured if I at least flirt slightly he'd respond."

"You really should do your research on people around here. Roy Mustang is very much in love with his wife," the red-haired receptionist said.

"I didn't even know he was married. Still, did he have to be so uncongenial?"

"Yes, he's very happily married. And as for unfriendly, what did you expect him to do? Make out with you? Besides, he did say, 'keep up the good work'. He didn't seem that unfriendly."

"His demeanor was so cold towards me," Eve said.

"Well that's understandable. He's been gone for two weeks, and hasn't seen his wife for those weeks. He was probably in a rush to see her. Plus, he gets annoyed with women that try to flirt with him now."

"Wanted to see his wife? Does she work here?"

All the girls stared at her like she'd lost her head. "Girl, you really do need to do your research," the black haired woman said. "He's married to Riza Hawkeye."

"Sara! Get real. Colonel Hawkeye? The Colonel Hawkeye that everyone is afraid of? She's not his type!"

"Oh please," Sara said, "She's nothing to be afraid of at all unless you…" she stepped closer to Eve. "Flirt with her husband."

"You all are kidding me! She's not his wife," Eve turned to the blond of the group, who was keeping quiet. "Come on Lene, they are kidding right?"

Lene shook her head. "No, they aren't kidding. In fact she and the representative have two of the cutest children you'll ever see."

"He's a father too?" Eve heaved a large sigh and sat down roughly in her chair. "Why are all the good ones either taken or gay?"

Roy smiled widely as he approached the office that was directly across the hall: his wife's office. He walked into the main office, nodding his hello to her subordinates who were leaving for Hawkeye's required daily target practice. He made his way toward her private office at the back of the large room, slowly opened the door slightly, and peeked inside.

As always the small office was immaculate and very well organized. There were two shelves stacked against the white walls on the right side of the office. These shelves held various types of profession related books and were organized from the tallest to the smallest so they didn't look uneven or asymmetrical. If he were to go over to the shelf, he would also see that they were organized alphabetically and in order of topic.

Stacked against the left wall was another shelf that reached up nearly to the ceiling, there being about a foot to spare between its wooden top and the ceilings off white tiles. There were books on this shelf also, all of them the same size in both width and height. They were all the same shade of blue and the spines of the books were all decorated uniformly at their tops and bottoms with gold laurels wrapping around the state seal. Roy knew those books very well, having had to refer to them for referencing the various laws of Amestris when doing research. Located behind his wife's desk, was a long black shelf that came up to the same height as the bottom part of the two windows it sat between. It was void of any books and instead displayed her trophies, accomplishments, and odd gifts from her grandfather. On the top of this shelf sat pictures of their family and a thriving vine-like potted plant that was twisting down the edge of the shelf in the direction of the window.

Riza was sitting at her red oak desk. Upon it sat piles of neatly stacked paperwork, a telephone, a coffee mug, and a pencil holder. Her eyes were focused down at her work and she was in such concentration that she obviously hadn't noticed that Roy opened the door.

He made a clicking sound of disappointment, striving to get her attention. She instantly looked up from her work with an annoyed look, her mouth formed into a straight line and her eyes narrowed. However, when she saw it was him, her expression changed completely, a smile lit her features like the sun lighting a summer morning. He entered the room, then shut and locked the door.

"Why are you giving me a look like that when I just got back? Do you want me to go back East or something?"

Riza stood from her chair, threw her pencil down on the desk, and rushed over to him, jumping into his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist. Roy fell back against the door. He hadn't expected her to show such extreme affection at work. He moved his hands down to pull her tighter against him and hold her so that she wouldn't fall. She placed her forehead against his, and then nuzzled his nose sweetly with hers. It was a very girly and innocent gesture, quite different from the way everyone else perceived his wife to be. Of course, they wouldn't have expected her to leap into his arms either.

"No, you stay right where you are. If you try to leave I'll tie you to something," she threatened affectionately.

Roy smiled broadly and drew her closer, "I'm so glad to be back."

Riza unwrapped her legs and sat her feet back onto the floor. She kissed him and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. Roy sighed and enjoyed the intimacy with his wife. Spending so long away from both her and his kids was almost too much to take. If he'd had to spend another week out east he thought he would go insane.

They pulled away from the passionate kiss and stared into each other's eyes for a moment before Riza rested her head against his chest and took a deep breath, savoring his smell. "I missed you so much."

Roy kissed the top of her head, "I missed you too. I missed not having my family around me. It's terribly difficult to being unable to hug my children goodnight then snuggle in bed with my beautiful wife."

Riza raised her head and kissed him at the right corner of his lips, then the left corner, before enrapturing his lips with a concupiscent kiss. She pulled away, leaving them both gasping for the warm office air. "It's hard sleeping without you there beside me." She hugged him again, quickly and tightly. She felt as if her words couldn't fully express how much she desired to have him around all the time.

"Next time, hell or high water, you all are coming with me," he said. "I don't want to go through that again."

Riza chuckled and nodded. "I think the kids are well behaved enough that we can take them with us. As long as it isn't too dangerous that is. Their school is catered to working with people in the military so we could get their work and have them do it while they are with us."

"If we have to go on our own, you know Grumman would be tickled pink to have them at the house running around. So would the staff. They love the kids."

"And the kids love it there, so it works well," she said.

"Well we will have to keep all that in mind the next time we have to go away."

"Speaking of time," Riza said as she turned in his embrace to look at the clock, "I need to go pick up our children from school. Then I have to come back here and finish that work." She motioned to several stacks of papers atop her desk.

"I'll do it for you," Roy said. You get to work and be done by the time I get back Missus Mustang. I plan on spending this up and coming three day weekend with my family."

"I'm taking Maes to the gun show tomorrow so you'll have to stay with Maeve. Unless you want to come?"

"Nah, I'll stay with Maeve."

Riza laughed at Roy's obvious dislike for firearms. She kissed his cheek. "I'll only be gone for a few hours to do some work and look around a bit. Then we are all yours through the three days."

Roy smirked, "And you during the nights?" Riza blushed, looked down at her lap and nodded. Roy thought she looked so adorable when he got her to display such features and actions. "Well?"

She finally looked up at him and smiled. "Yes, me during the nights," she said, then leaned in closer so she could whisper in his ear, "and even during the kids' nap time."

"Sounds like I have a great weekend to look forward to."

Riza laughed, "Me too."

**-/-/-**

The children at Central Private School were excited about the three day weekend coming up and anxious for the day to end. So when the bell rang, the kids excitedly grabbed their bags and rushed out the door to their parents. A great number of the kids left immediately, their moms and dads already there early, and others had to wait in the coatroom, staring out the window watching for their parents. Six year old Maes and Maeve Mustang were two of those kids.

Maeve stared out the window, calmly waiting for their mother to arrive while her twin Maes was far more anxious.

"Why isn't mommy here yet?" he asked.

Maeve sighed and pointed at the clock with her tiny index finger, not moving her gaze from what it was focused on. Maes stared at her for a moment before turning to look at the large, cat shaped timepiece on the wall. "The small hand is on the three!" he said.

"But where is the big hand?"

Maes studied the clock for a moment and saw that the larger hand was on the five. "Mommy said she'd be here when the small hand was on the three and the big hand was on the six right?"

"Yep," she said, and then sighed. She glanced over to her left and was surprised to see her friend Lily waiting. "Hey, why isn't your mommy here yet?"

Maes walked over to stand closer to his sister. "Yeah, your mommy is usually the first here," Maes said.

"My grandparents are coming here to get me! I get to stay with them this weekend," she said with an excited laugh following her words. "All four of them are going to take me out west and we are going to go to the zoo, and swimming, and going to have ice cream and other stuff!"

"Fun!" Maes exclaimed, "I like giraffes and swimming in lakes and chocolate ice cream and other stuffs too!"

"Me too!" Lily said with another giggle, her dimples showing in her cheeks as she smiled. She looked back outside and the smile grew as she saw her grandparents walk through the gate. She pointed. "There they are!" she said, and began to gather her things together hurriedly.

"Why didn't she just go ahead and get them?" Maeve muttered.

Lily ran to the door. "Bye Maeve! Bye Maes," she yelled. She rushed out of the building and up to four older people, one of the women picking her up and hugging her. After she hugged all of them, they put her down and she turned to wave at Maes and Maeve before walking out of the gate.

"Maeve, why does she have four?" Maes asked. He looked down at his hands and held out two fingers. "We only have Gramps Grumman and the holiday lady."

"We have to find out!" Maeve said, "It's not fair that we only have two and she has four!"

"Four what?" a little brown haired boy asked as he walked up to the twins.

"None of your business Dwayne," Maeve huffed and folded her arms, clearly displaying her dislike for the boy.  
"Grandparents. Lily has four of them!" Maes said, ignoring what his sister had told the other boy.

"Maes! You aren't supposed to tell!" Maeve scolded.

"So do I!" Dwayne said, "I have four."

"Me too!" a little girl piped up.

"I do too!" yet another kid said.

"Don't you?" Dwayne asked.

Maeve grabbed her brother by the collar, then her bag and began pulling him out of the room before he could say more. "Come on, we have to wait for mama!" Maes grabbed his bag quickly as she dragged him past the table that he sat it on.

"Bye guys!" Maeve said, waiving at their classmates as they walked out of the door. Maeve led them to the gates and stopped.

"Maeve! You know mommy said that we aren't supposed to walk out of the gates without her here," he said, while carefully zipping up his coat.

Maeve huffed, "We aren't exactly out of the gates are we?" she said and step directly on the border of the gate and the sidewalk.

Maes kicked a pebble on the ground. "I suppose not."

"Listen, we have to find out why we only have one gramps and one grandma!"

"Yeah, I know but how do we do that?'

"Leave it to me!" she said proudly. A small smile, that was the child version of her father's infamous smirk, came to her lips.

"I always get more afraid when you say that than I do when the boogeyman sleeps under the bed."

"You are going with mama to the gun thing tomorrow! You ask her about it!"

"Why can't you come and ask her? Or ask daddy about it?"

"I'm staying with Gracia tomorrow because I hate the gun place. And you know Papa is away out east for a meet thingy."

"Oh yeah. I miss daddy."

"Me too, but he'll be back later. You have a duty to do tomorrow like an officer. You must ask mama!"

Maes saluted his sister. "Okay I shall ask mommy then!"

"Good!" Maeve then directed her dark gaze down the road and saw their car coming. "Mama's here!"

Maes walked up to stand at the gate as the car pulled up and stopped. The door opened and their eyes widened and smiles graced their lips when they saw their dad.

"Daddy!" Maes said while Maeve yelled, "Papa" at the same time.

They rushed toward him as fast as their little legs would go. Roy bend down, scooped the two children up, earning hugs in the process of his lifting.

"Daddy is supposed to be out east!" Maes said.

"I was able to come back early so I thought I would pick you up from school while your mom finishes her work."

Maeve kissed him on the cheek, "Yay! Now I can stay with papa tomorrow instead of Auntie Gracia!"

"Stay? Ah yes, your mom has some work at the gun show to do," he said, having momentarily forgotten about Riza's plans the next day.

"I'm going with mommy though," Maes said.

"Yes, I figured that much," Roy said. He put his kids down and opened the back door of the car. Roy secured them in their seats before getting back in the driver's side and making his way toward headquarters to pick up his wife.

Maes leaned to the left, towards his sister. "Now you can ask daddy too."

"I will," she said with a firm nod of her head.


	2. Roy and Maeve

**Family Dynamics**

**Author: MoonStarDutchess**

**Part 2: Roy and Maeve **

**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to Fullmetal Alchemist and gain no profit from this fanfiction but I do own my plot and OC's if any. Any resemblance of the OC's to anyone, living or dead, is purely coincidental. **

**Note: Maes and Maeve's bad grammar is intentional and the misspellings in their dialogue are also intentional. **

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**Roy and Maeve**

Riza shrugged her right shoulder as Roy placed a kiss on the side of her neck. His arms were wrapped around her waist tightly, hugging her from behind.

"Roy, stop it. You are acting like we are on a honeymoon. Didn't you get enough last night?" she asked as he placed another kiss behind her ear. She had to take a deep breath to keep from moaning at his attentions to that particular spot.

"No, I didn't. I never get enough of my beautiful, sexy wife," he said, continuing his amative attentions to her skin.

"You are such a horrible flatterer." Riza laughed, turned around, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She smiled, "I'll have to placate you later tonight. Right now I have to go."

"Don't go. Can't you have someone else do that stupid work?"

"No, I can't. It's my responsibility. You know, it's still not too late for you and Maeve to come along."

Roy kissed her and shook his head, "We'd just complain the entire time. As much as I don't want you to go, you and Maes should have a good time."

She kissed him on the nose and pulled out of his arms. "We won't be long."

"Good," Roy said.

Riza turned around to get Maes and her jackets off the wooden pegs on the wall.

"Maes, come on! We are leaving! Maeve, come say goodbye!" Riza shouted to her children.

"Coming mommy!" they heard Maes say.

--

"Now don't forget to ask mama about it okay?" Maeve said to her brother as they carefully made their way down the stairs.

"I told you I wouldn't," he said, "I'm not a mankin."

"Huh?"

"You know, what they call someone who can't do anything!"

"Oh!" Maeve exclaimed, and then glowered after she thought about her brother's words for a moment. "It's not mannekin! It is dummy, you dummy."

"I'm not a dummy! Dummies are those things they stick in cars to test em. I can't drive so I can't be a dummy."

"There is more than one type of dummy," she said with an exasperated sigh.

"Well I'm not the car steering one!"

"You are annoying."

Maes stopped in the middle of the stairs, causing Maeve to stop as well.

"What's wrong?"

Maes sat down. "Come here and sit too."

Maeve did as her brother requested, "What is it?"

"I've been thinking…" Maes started to say, nervously trailing off.

"That's very bad," she said, "Are you in pain?"

Maes frowned, "Never mind if you are going to be mean about it." He pouted and stood.

Maeve grabbed his hand and pulled him back down to sit. "I'm sorry," she said, "What were you thinking about?"

"Well, why do we have to ask them each both at the different places? Why can't we just ask them at the same time?"

"Because if we do that they will tell us the same story. If we ask them away from each other we might get more stuff!"

"Oh…that makes sense!"

"Of course it does! That's why I'm the smart one with the brains," she said, then stood.

Maes huffed, "I got brains too!"

"Sure you do! They are just playing hide and seek," Maeve said.

"Meanie," he replied.

When they arrived at the bottom of the stairs, Maes ran ahead of his sister and up to his mom. He jumped up on the bench and Riza helped him with his coat. She then lifted him in her arms.

"Are you sure that you two don't want to come to the gun show with us? It's going to be fun," Riza said. Roy picked Maeve up so she was at the same level as her mother and brother.

"I don't like guns," Maeve said, "and looking at a bunch of them isn't fun."

"She took the words right out of my mouth," Roy said.

"Guns are awesome," Maes protested.

"You took after your mommy in that Maes," Riza said. She smiled at Roy and kissed him good bye before kissing Maeve on the forehead. "Anything you want us to bring you back?"

"Earplugs?" Maeve responded, causing Roy to laugh.

"Good one," Roy said and looked at his daughter fondly.

She looked back at him and smiled, "Thank you papa."

"Stay out of trouble you two," Riza said and put Maes on his feet. He took her hand instantly as they made their way out of the house and down the street.

Roy closed the door and heaved a sigh before putting Maeve down. "So, what are we going to do today?" he asked.

"Teach me alchemy!" She said, gazing up at him with a mischievous smile that reminded him a bit of Ed Elric's devious toothy smile.

"You know I can't do that Maeve. Your mom and I decided to wait until you were older."

"But can't you just sneak and teach me?"

"I can't teach you behind your mom's back. That's wrong."

Maeve frowned and kicked one of Hayate's chew toys across the floor, the squeaking causing the dog to look up for a moment. After a minute of realizing no one was going to play, he yawned and went back to sleep.

"Mommy is teaching Maes how to shoot. It's not fair that I can't learn alchemy. I already know some stuff!" She looked down at the ground, scuffing her foot across the floor.

Roy frowned. What she was saying was true. Alchemy was no more dangerous than firearms and he would be around when she did the alchemy. Besides learning basics wouldn't be harmful. He was around her age when he got into alchemy. "I'll tell you what. I'll talk to your mother when she gets home about letting you learn some basics. I'm sure I can convince her. Okay?"

Maeve looked, up her face lighting up. "Really?"

"Yes," Roy said with a laugh at the sheer joy his daughter was expressing.

"Promise you'll talk to mama?"

"Yes, I promise."

"Yay!" She ran over to the couch and sat down upon the soft cushions.

"Anything else you want to do?" he asked.

"Yes, I want to talk to you!"

Roy chuckled and walked over to sit on the couch beside his daughter. "What did you want to talk about?"

She moved to crawl on his lap and looked up at him. "You learned alchemy from my grandpa right?"

"That's right," Roy said.

"But Gramps Grumman doesn't do alchemy so you had to have learned it from my missing gramps right?"

Roy tilted his head and looked at her in an odd manner, "missing gramps?"

"That's not important," she said. "Who did you learn from?"

Roy had dreaded the talk about their grandparents more than the sex talk, which thankfully hadn't come yet. "Maeve, Grumman isn't your grandfather. He's your great grandfather."

"I know he's great." She wrinkled her nose and folded her arms, "What's being great got to do with it?"

Roy laughed and hugged her. "No, you see, Grumman is your mom's grandpa. He's your mom's mother's father. That makes Grumman your great grandfather."

"Okay, let me get this right. Gramps Grumman, is mama's mommy's daddy?"

"Right," Roy said, hoping it would be the end of the discussion.

"So you learned alchemy from either your daddy or momma's daddy?"

Roy groaned inwardly and resigned himself to the conversation. "I learned alchemy from your mom's father," Roy said.

Maeve suddenly got a great idea in which she could benefit. "So…when do we meet mama's daddy?"

"Your mom's dad died a long time ago," Roy answered.

Maeve frowned darkly, "Darn it…"

Roy looked at her suspiciously. "You wanted to sneak and ask him if he'd teach you, right?"

Maeve looked to the side with her eyes, not moving her head in the slightest. "No…" she lied. It wasn't the entire truth after all. She waited a moment and turned back to her dad. "Was mama's papa nice?"

Anger rushed through Roy at the thought of what the man had done to his daughter. The tattoo, the lack of attention, and the uncaring looks he often gave her. It took a lot of willpower not to display that anger in front of his daughter. Roy forced himself to calm down and shook his head, "No Maeve, he wasn't nice. He was rather cruel all the way up until he died. That was the only time he showed that he loved your mother. He asked me to take care of her."

"And you do that very greatly! Mama loves papa very much."

Roy smiled at his daughter. Sometimes she said things that really lightened his day and took away his doubts about whether or not he was a good husband and father.

"So he died. Then how about mama's mommy? Where is she?" "

"She died when your mom was very little."

"So you never got to meet mama's mommy?"

"No, I never got to meet her. Your mom doesn't remember her very much either."

"There's no pictures or nothing?"

Roy lifted his daughter into his arms, stood, and took her up the stairs. He carried her into the master bedroom and over to an old black and white photograph hanging on the wall. The woman in the picture wore a peaceful smile. Her eyes were clearly shining with happiness that could be seen despite the aged photograph. Beside her stood Master Hawkeye, a small grin in his face, his hand resting on the chair the woman sat in. It was a completely different man than what Roy had known. A small bundle was resting in the woman's arms.

"Is that them?" Maeve asked.

"That's them," he said.

"The lady is so pretty! But mommy doesn't look like her. Mommy looks like the man! The man isn't pretty. He can't be pretty! But mommy is pretty."

"Guess who that is?" Roy asked as he placed his finger on the frame atop the bundle in the photo.

"A baby?"

"Maeve," Roy heaved frustratingly.

"Sorry papa," she said, "that's mommy right?"

"Right."

"So, you learned alchemy from mama's papa? So you must have known mama a long time."

"Yes, I knew your mom for a long time before we had you two," Roy said.

"How about your mommy and daddy?" Maeve asked. "Are they alive? Has mama met them?"

"My mother is called Christmas, you know that. We'll be visiting her and my sisters in Creta soon."

"But she's your, I love you mama!"

"Huh?"

"The mama who took care of you and loved you. How about your other mama?

And your papa?"

"I don't know much about them," he said. "I can't remember their faces. All I know is that they live in the capital in Xing."

"Do you want to know them?"

"No. My birth mom and dad didn't want me so they gave me to Christmas when I was around your age. If they didn't want me then I don't want them."

"Oh…But didn't that hurt you in there," Maeve asked, putting her hand on his chest, over his heart."

"Yes it did for a while but I realized I was more loved by my 'I love you' mama." Roy said, using the same words his daughter uttered. "It doesn't matter because she's my mother more than my birth mother."

"I think I get it," she said.

He carried her back down the stairs, into the living room and then sat on the couch. Roy started to sit her off his lap, but she grabbed him around the neck. "I'm glad you are my papa."

Roy's eyes widened at first upon hearing her words before he returned the hug. "I love being your papa."

"And brother's papa?"

"Yes," he said.

"And mama's… umm...um… assistant?"

Roy nearly fell over at her use of wording. "I'm your mama's husband Maeve and she is my wife."

"And we are your kids," Maeve said.

"Right," Roy said.

"And we are a nice family!"

Roy smiled and nodded. "Yes we are."

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**AN: I meant to have this up yesterday but there was some serious computer trouble with my desktop and everything crashed. Hence I had to rewrite this from the draft I had saved, thankfully, on my jump drive. Not to mention that my crummy net limit overran because of the viruses and its currently worse than dialup. Hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter will be Maes and Riza's talk. This fic will probably be four chapters now instead of three since I have to restructure things because of the loss of my chapters. Don't know for sure though. Reviews are much appreciated and are used to make a wall to block all the trojans my computer likes to amass. Quick! Call in the Greeks... bad joke...  
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	3. Riza and Maes

**Family Dynamics**

**Author: MoonStarDutchess**

**Part 3: Riza and Maes **

**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to Fullmetal Alchemist and gain no profit from this fanfiction but I do own my plot and OC's if any. Any resemblance of the OC's to anyone, living or dead, is purely coincidental. **

**Note: Maes and Maeve's bad grammar is intentional. **

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**Riza and Maes**

Maes Mustang's eyes widened in delight as he and his mother walked into the large arena where the gun show was being held. There were hundreds of rows of different sized booths. Situated on the top of most of the booths were banners that bore the company's name and logo. The decoration on the banners ranged from simple camouflage, to highly ornate, to just void of anything but simple solid neutral colored letters. They were held above the booths by round brown poles about the same circumference as a broomstick. The stalls that were void of the banners held up by the poles instead had ones that draped over the front of the tables. Atop all of the tables were various types of guns depending on the specialty of that particular booth. Along side of the guns at each section were labeled boxes of ammo that went with the guns they were selling.

People were crowded around the stalls and wandering up and down the wide areas between each of the respective sections. Maes felt his mommy pick him up in her arms and begin walking through the sea of people. He was amazed at how the people seemed to move out of his mommy's way as she walked through them. The circumstances made him remember a story that he heard once when his grandfather took him to something called Sunday school. Something about a man parting a color sea by raising his hands. Perhaps his mom had that power when she carried him and that was why she wasn't letting him walk on his own.

He gazed around and suddenly became aware of and uncomfortable with the way the men were staring at his mommy. If his daddy had been there the men wouldn't be turning around to gaze at her as she walked by. If they did, his daddy would have made sure to fix the trouble right away and scare the men. His daddy could be the scariest person on the planet, even scarier than his mommy, especially when it came to protecting all of them.

Riza stopped at a long line that led into the blocked off military section of the show. He looked around and saw all the blue uniforms like his mommy and daddy wore when they went to work. When he turned his head to the right, he shouted and latched on to Riza, hiding his face in the junction between her neck and shoulder. She looked at her little boy, alarmed at his actions.

"Maes, what's the matter?" she said soothingly, hating to see her baby afraid of something.

"There are animals here!" He said. "There's a moose staring at me and he's not breathing or blinking! He's a zombie moose!"

Riza raised an eyebrow, "What? Where?"

Maes pointed to the right without directing his gaze in the direction and chuckled lightly when she saw various mounted animals atop a wooden booth.

"It's okay Maes, those animals are stuffed, they can't hurt you," she said and walked over to all of the dummies.

"Did my display scare your son?" the vendor asked, as he noticed the little boy clinging to her.

"Do you mind if he touches one?"

"Not at all," the man said.

"Maes, look," she said.

"Nopers, I'm good."

"Maes, do you trust mommy?" Riza didn't want her son to stay afraid of such a silly, incredibly harmless thing.

"Yes."

"Then look at them," she said.

Maes slowly turned to look at the large moose head, its brown eyes seeming to stare right into him. His grip tightened around Riza's neck.

Riza raised her hand and rested it on the animal's large nose. "See, it won't hurt you. Touch it."

"Okay," he said meekly. He moved his hand from its place and slowly moved it to touch the place right beside Riza's hand, feeling the thin fur on the animal. When it didn't move to bite him, he giggled, "I so silly."

Riza laughed and kissed his cheek. She directed her gaze to the vendor, "thank you very much."

"You are very welcome," he said.

When they stepped further away from the booth Maes spoke, "Why did that man have so many heads?"

Riza chuckled at her son's wording but didn't speak about it. "That was the hunting section."

"And we want the solider section right?"

"That's right. I have to pick up forms for a shipment of rifles for the range."

"And that's why we are here. Not just to look at the guns."

"That's right."

"When do I get my own gun?" he said looking around at the various firearms. "I want a big one."

"We'll have to start you out small, but you won't get your own gun until you are much much older."

"It's like sissy with alchemy right? She can't play with alchemy till she's older. But I can already shoot but not have my own gun right?"

"Right. And you can't shoot without having me around either, remember."  
"Yep."

Maes looked around the place again while they waited in line and he yelled out in joy when he saw two familiar people coming toward them. "Mommy! Look!" he said, pointing to the right with his index finger.

Riza turned her head and saw Havoc being pushed in his wheelchair by none other than Rebecca. Maes struggled to get down as Rebecca and Havoc waved at the two of them. Riza sat him on his feet and he ran toward the two people as fast as he could. Havoc caught him and sat him on his lap. Maes hugged him tightly around the neck.

"Uncle Jean!" he shouted in joy.

Havoc laughed. "It's good to see you little man!"

Maes looked up and smiled his toothy grin at Rebecca.

"Hi there Maes," she said with a huge smile.

"Hi Aunt Harpy!"

Riza and Havoc covered their mouth to hold back boisterous laughter as they stopped in front of Riza.

"Maes, my name is Aunt Rebecca," she said as sweetly as possible. In reality she was furious at being called a harpy but figured it wasn't the young child's fault. In fact she knew without a doubt where he got the harpy comment.

Maes looked confused, "But daddy calls you harpy all the time."

Riza paled at the true statement her son made. Roy really did refer to Rebecca as the harpy.

Rebecca narrowed her eyes. The blond colonel coughed loudly and changed the topic, "What are you two doing in Central?"

"This is our favorite gun show. Did you really expect us not to come out here?" Rebecca asked.

"I wasn't aware you two liked this show, otherwise I guess I would have expected you to come."

"I see. Well what are you doing here? Normally you don't like crowds."

"Mommy has to do all kinds of work and I have to wait and it will be boring," Maes injected.

"Speaking of boring, where's Mustang and Maeve," Rebecca asked.

"You think you are going to see Roy and Maeve at a gun show? There's a better chance of it snowing in Ishbal."

"It doesn't snow in the desert silly mommy," Maes said. The adults looked at him quietly and calmly for a moment before laughing at his comment.

"Exactly Maes," Havoc said.

Maes looked confused but thought it would be better just to let the adults talk their silly nonsense.

Riza heard her name called by rank and every soldier in line saluted immediately. She waved them off, telling them she was off duty and there was no need to salute.

"Well aren't you well respected," Rebecca joked.

"That gets annoying," Riza said. "They salute even when I'm clearly in civilian clothing."

"I can see how that would be a pain."

"Who called my name anyway?" Riza asked, looking around for the source of the address.

"Colonel Hawkeye," the voice called again, this time a tall, wiry man with brown hair and thin rimmed sunglasses was at the entrance of the area. "You can come on in, the paperwork is almost ready. It will take about an hour to fill everything out though."

"Alright," she said.

"Hey, is it alright if we take Maes to look around?" Havoc asked. "It's hard for an adult to listen to that stuff. I can imagine it will be torture on a kid. We'll bring him back in an hour."

"You want to do that Maes?" Riza asked.

"I can?"

"Yes," she said.

"Okay!"

The three left the area as Riza made her way into the indoor tent where the military weapons were displayed.

An hour later, Rebecca and Havoc returned Maes to the area, he rushed into the tent to see his mommy and tell her about all the cool stuff he saw, including more "vendor heads". He walked up to stand beside her.

"Did you have fun?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the paper she was reading. Maes crawled upon her lap, knowing it was okay to do so by her open attitude.

"Yep, I saw more heads and petted them."

Riza smiled and signed the last line on the form before resting it on the table in front of her and the pen beside the paper.

"That's good," she said.

"Now I'm really hungry," he said.

"We'll go to eat when I get this form copied."

A different man from the one Maes remembered from earlier came into the area. This man was shorter and more muscular than the first and had a smile on his face as opposed to no expression. "Is that your son?" the man asked.

"Yes," she said.

"I wasn't aware that you gave birth to a child," he said, "He's clearly Mustang's right?"

Riza nodded, "That's right."

The man bent over the table and stared at Maes a moment, "Hello there."

Maes hid his face against Riza, remembering that he wasn't supposed to talk to strangers. That man was strange to him so he wouldn't talk unless his mommy said it was okay.

Riza knew what was wrong with her son so she spoke, "You can talk to him Maes. I've known him since I was a teenager. His name is Frank."

Maes raised his head, smiled, and nodded. He turned to Frank and grinned. "Hi, I'm Maes! I have a twin sister too! Her name is Maeve but she doesn't like guns. She's like daddy!"

"Oh, is that right?" Frank chuckled. "Do you want to be a sniper like your mom?"

"Nope! I want to build guns but I still want to be good like mommy at shooting them!"

"I'm sure you will be Maes," he said then directed his gaze to Riza. "I'll have these copied. I'll be right back."

"Alright," she said.

Five minutes later, Frank returned. He handed Riza a manila folder and some receipts. "I'll have the weapons here next week. It was nice to see you again and tell Mustang I said hello," he said. He reached his hand out to Maes and he took it in a handshake. "Nice to meet you Maes."

"You too," he said.

Frank looked up at Riza and smiled sadly. "He's a lot like his namesake."

"Yes, he is," Riza agreed.

Maes slurped on his shake as his mother ran her eyes over the paperwork in her hand, committing everything to memory. On the way home they took the time to stop at a small diner that Maes loved, for a quick lunch. She had little doubt that Roy and Maeve had already gone out to the worst and unhealthiest place possible for lunch.

"Mommy, what's a namesake?" Maes asked.

Riza put down her papers so that she could look at her son. "A namesake is someone that you are named after."

"My friend Andy is named after his grandpa. Am I named after my grandpa? Gramps Grumman's name isn't Maes is it? "

Riza froze. The kids had never mentioned grandparents. "Um… no Maes. You and Maeve aren't named after your grandparents. Grumman is my grandfather you know. He's your great grandpa."

"So gramp's real name is great?"

Riza laughed. "Your great grandpa's name is Charles."

"Oh… how about my grandpa then and grandma?"

"They died a long time ago," Riza said. "Your dad and I were young when it happened."

"That's sad. What were they like?"

"Why do you suddenly want to know about them?"

"I just do. Please tell me mommy."

"I don't remember my mom very much Maes, but my father wasn't very loving. He stayed in his study a lot after I got old enough to take care of myself."

"He wasn't like my daddy?"

"No, he wasn't like your daddy at all. Your daddy is a much better daddy than mine was."

"How about daddy's mommy and daddy? Did you know them?"

"No, you know your daddy has Madam Christmas though."

"Yeah but she's a forest mother."

"It's foster mother. But that doesn't matter because Christmas loves your dad very much."

"Do you think she will love us too?"

"Oh I'm sure she will love you very much."

"So papa's his real mommy and daddy don't love him?"

"I don't know. They didn't want your daddy so I suppose not. They gave him up when he was about a year younger than you."

"So that must have made daddy sad?"

"For a while I suppose it did."

"Are you sad that your mommy and daddy aren't alive?"

"Sometimes," Riza said. Really she was sadder that her father hadn't been the kind man that people had told her he once was. The death of her mother apparently changed him significantly.

"I'm glad I have you and daddy. You both are a good momma and daddy."

"And you are glad to have your sister?"

Maes wrinkled his nose "Sometimes. When she doesn't call me a mankin!"

Riza laughed and kissed the top of his head gently. "Finish your lunch. Then we will head home."

"Okay!" he said, then took a bite of his turkey sandwich.

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**AN: I really loved writing Maes in this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it and feedback is appreciated.**


	4. Conclusion

**Family Dynamics**

**Author: MoonStarDutchess**

**Part 4: Conclusion**

**Disclaimer: I claim no ownership to Fullmetal Alchemist and gain no profit from this fanfiction but I do own my plot and OC's if any. Any resemblance of the OC's to anyone, living or dead, is purely coincidental. **

**Note: The kids bad grammar is intentional. **

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**Conclusion**

When Riza and Maes got home, they hung up their coats and made their way into the living room. They saw that Roy and Maeve were working on the transmutation circle puzzle they'd started a few days prior.

"We are home!" Maes said proudly, announcing the obvious.

Maeve rushed up to hug her mom, and then hugged her brother. "I'm glad you are home," she said to him.

"I'm glad to be home!" he said, happily.

Roy stood and looked at his kids oddly before looking at Riza who also had no clue why her children were so happy to see each other.

"What are you two up to?" Roy asked, as he walked over to stand next to his wife.

"Nothing," they both said. They shot their parents a smile that they thought made them look innocent when really it did quite the opposite.

"You two, that smile doesn't work," Riza said, placing her hands on her hips.

The twins looked at each other then back at their parents. "We just want to play!" Maes said.

"Yeah! We are going to go play now!" Maeve said quickly, grabbing her brother's hand and rushing out of the room. Roy and Riza stayed silent and listened as their twins' footsteps thumping on the stairs as they ascended them quickly.

"Ouch! I hit my head!" they heard Maes yelp.

"You took after daddy's hard head. You'll live!" Maeve said, and then all was silent in the Mustang household.

After a full minute of no noise at all, Riza spoke, "Maes may have gotten your hard head but Maeve certainly got your smart-ass attitude."

"You sure she didn't inherit a bit of that from your side of the family? Your father was a smart ass and you weren't exactly Miss sunshine, lollipops, and kindness when you were younger either.

"Okay, so maybe there's a mixture then. Am I hard headed?"

"Is Edward short?"

"Very funny," she muttered.

"You took after your dad with your hard head," he said. "I guess that's why we match so well. Only we can put up with each other."

Riza laughed as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her gently. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. "That's true. Plus, I'm the only one that can tolerate your lazy streak. I wonder if your parents were lazy sometimes."

Roy frowned. "Who cares about them?" he muttered. Roy pulled Riza tighter against him. "Speaking of family, Maeve asked me about her grandparents to day. Her blood relation grandparents."

Riza lifted her head so that she could stare into his eyes. "That's strange, Maes asked me about them today as well."

"Is that so?" Roy said, his tone indicative that he was holding quite a bit of suspicion about the two separate incidences.

Riza laughed. "There's no way that's a mere coincidence you know."

"Yeah," he said, and then let out a loud chuckle. "We have some smart kids."

"But why do they want to know about their grandparents? They have my grandfather and will have Christmas when we go to visit her next month."

"One way to find out," Roy said, taking her hand.

"I guess we should ask them," Riza said.

Roy huffed, "Ask? I was talking about spying on them."

Roy and Riza slowly made their way up the stairs and down the hall to their children's playroom. Maes and Maeve were sitting atop one of the tables, their backs toward the door.

"That's all mama told you?" Maeve questioned

"Yep, that's it."

Roy and Riza cursed getting there too late. Though it wasn't good to spy on their children, sometimes it was the easiest and most effective way to get the entire truth out of them.

"And daddy told you that his parents didn't want him so he gave him to Thanksgiving?"

Roy's right eyebrow arched and Riza had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing.

"You mean Christmas," Maeve said. "Grandma Christmas."

"So daddy's parents didn't want him, mommy's dad was mean to her most of the times and that's why we don't have four grandparents like Lily does."

"Ah, so that's it," Roy whispered.

"It's so simple, let's go now," Riza said, feeling slightly guilty over spying on her children.

"Papa and Mama weren't loved enough so we have to love them lots," Maeve said. "Just like we said we'd love mama extra when that slut told us that papa was going to leave mama and us."

Roy and Riza chuckled quietly and turned to leave when Maes' next words caused them to freeze in their steps.

Maes looked down at the floor, gazing at his black sneakers. "Um…what if daddy and mommy want to leave us?"

"They wouldn't do that!" Maeve said.

"What if we be mean and they decide they don't want us anymore and they send us away?"

"You know we were good until you said that," Maeve sniffed.

"I don't want to leave mommy and daddy. I love mommy and daddy!" Maes said. "I don't want to be mean and have them send us away." Tears began streaming down his cheeks.

"Me…either," Maeve hiccupped.

Roy and Riza turned toward the door and walked into the room.

"Babies, we would never give you away," Riza said.

The two kids turned to them, their little faces stained with tears and their cheeks turning red.

"Mommy! Daddy!" they said, running to Riza and Roy who scooped down to pick up the children.

Maeve hugged her mom while Maes had a choke hold onto his dad's neck.

"We would never give you away. Granted we don't want you to be mean, but we love you no matter how you act." The kids pulled away from the hugs, and sniffed. "Promise?" they both asked.

"We promise," Riza said.

Roy patted Maeve on the head. "I told you earlier today that I love being your papa didn't I?"

"Mine too?" Maes asked.

"Yes," Roy said.

"I told you today Maes that I love being a mama to you and Maeve remember?"

"Oh yeah," he said.

"So no more talking about us giving you away. Okay?" Riza smiled at her children who beamed their tooth grins at her.

"Okay!" they both said.

"I believe its nap time for you two," Riza said. "Go to your rooms and get changed. We'll be there to tuck you in as soon as you are in bed."

"Awww, do we have to take a nap?" they both asked at the exact same time as Roy and Riza put them back on their feet. As soon as their feet hit the ground both children yawned.

"Yes," Riza said, "Go on."

"Okay," they said and left the room.

Twenty minutes later, the two children were nestled in their beds, taking their naps. Roy and Riza shut the door to their bedrooms and made their way downstairs.

"We have amazing children Roy," she said, as they settled in on the couch, snuggling close to each other.

"Yes we do. They take after their mother in that," he said.

Riza turned so that she could look up into his face. "They get a lot from their father in that too. Don't try to deny it."

"If you say so," he said.

Riza snuggled her head against his chest and closed her eyes.

"I'm glad you are my wife."

This statement caused her to sit up straight and look at him with an amused grin.

"What brought that on?"

"I thought you should know," he said.

Riza smiled, leaned up, and kissed him. Soon she pulled away, stood, grabbed his hand and led him up to their bedroom.

After locking the door, she pushed him on the bed and took out her hair clip before crawling over him. She kissed him again, slipping her tongue into his mouth while unbuttoning the shirt he was wearing. "I'm glad you are my husband," she said, when she pulled away from the kiss.

Roy smirked at her. "I'm glad its naptime."

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**AN: I was expecting this to be longer, otherwise I would have just left it in last chapter. I think it serves its purpose as a closing chapter thought. I hope you enjoyed it and please drop a review if you have the time. **


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